I decided today that I want to revamp my blog: My life in lists – and other asides. I make a lot of lists (like the ultimate one – my ever-changing bucket list). So look for that to come.

In the meantime… I realised it has been almost two and a half years since I made a “playlist” post. And since I just downloaded some new music (by which I mean music from the past year), I thought now would be a good time to make said list. (Although, most of the songs are not from that “new” music – what does that say about today’s music?!?)

My favorite newer song ….

Another song I just discovered I like…. (yay B-Sides!)

This girl is pretty much me… I even rode the little mechanical horse outside the shop I bought my boots in!

One of my cheesier all time favorites…. I met the band when I was in high school … they have since disbanded 😦

And finally, the song I have recently decided to be my all time favorite song (for now)… [and I’ve been a lot of these places!]

It seems the more places you go, the more places you want to go. There is so much to see and do in the world, it’s almost overwhelming! I’ve updated my list (and categorized it by region!) Who knows if I will ever be able to see it all!

I recently thought of a little anecdote from my childhood that made me think about myself today. I’m not sure why I thought of this instance recently, perhaps it is because I suddenly seem to have quite a few friends in the military (as a matter of fact, I’m leaving soon to go see one on home for leave!) or perhaps it is because of a heated discussion about equal rights that I just saw on Facebook, or perhaps it’s because it’s almost the Fourth of July. Either way, I realized something interesting. When I was little (three or four, I suppose) I got kicked out of preschool. Yes, sweet little me, teacher’s pet, got told not to come back. Why you ask? It is because I refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I refused, because they would not give me a logical explanation as to why I should. Even toddler me had authority issues.

Adult me still has those issues as well. People have told me if you want to travel and get paid for school, join the military. The only problem is that I would not survive one week in the military. Physical requirements aside (need I list my many disqualifying ailments?), my lack of ability to follow senseless orders would become a problem. It’s not necessarily that I lack respect for authority, it’s just that I believe authority should be earned. The people who do the best at their assigned tasks should be the ones who are promoted, not because of who they know, but because they are good enough at doing something to direct others in how to do it. I take issues as well with people trying to boss me around when I’ve been doing my job longer than they have. If I trained you in your job, who are you to turn around and tell me how to do said job? Most importantly, I take issue with things that are illogical. Damn intelligence won’t let me blindly follow people. “Because I said so” is not an acceptable answer in my book.

All of that being said, I still do not say the Pledge of Allegiance, to this day. Now before you start accusing me of being unpatriotic, or treacherous, or a terrorist- hear my logic against saying it. At the same age when they teach you the Pledge, they also teach you things like not to lie. I would be lying if I said I could always and forever provide my unwavering loyalty to a country I can’t necessarily predict the future of. Think of all the little German children in the 1920s and 1930s pledging allegiance to their country- then being asked as adults to systematically murder millions of people. What if I pledge allegiance now, and 20 years down the road some crazy president comes in and tells us we need to finish off all the Native Americans? Would you hold true to your “pledge”? Or would you turn your back on it, and fight against your country or simply flee to another one? Either you hold true to your pledge and break your own morals, or you break your pledge to keep to your morals- which would then make the entire point of saying said pledge moot anyways.

At the end of the day, saying of few words makes you neither patriotic nor unpatriotic, it’s what’s in your heart that matters. I still don’t see what the point of reciting it is. Perhaps we need to spend those extra two minutes teaching kids math and reading so we do not breed a nation of imbeciles. If someone can tell me a logical reason for how saying the Pledge of Allegiance makes you more productive/intelligent/etc. then I will be willing to re-examine my opinion. Until such a time, however, I choose to stick to my morals. And I will love my country as long as it does not conflict with said morals. And more importantly, I love all of you who continue to fight for our country so that I may continue to stick to my own morals and not those of some creepy guy thousands of miles away.

I was watching T.V. the other night and a news clip about the “World Champion Green Bay Packers” came on. I’m sorry, but when did the WORLD begin participating in the NFL? Last I checked, the Super Bowl was only open to American NFL teams. Therefore, the Packers are not “World Champions”, they are National Champions, at best. Spain is the current World Champion. Although I suppose it really depends on which sport you are talking about (I choose to use the “other” football here, since it is the closest comparison). I’d like to call the network that said this (I think it was ABC?) and correct them on their false advertising. The English language has clearly gone to the birds nowadays.

I have two huge passions in life- dancing and theme parks. The first has its own whole blog, the latter gets this post.

I go to a lot of theme parks. I worked seasonally in one. But I hadn’t been to my favorite theme park in 4 years, until yesterday. And I finally figured out why it is I love theme parks. I could live inside Epcot.

First off, theme parks are like their own little world. Like going to a different country in your own backyard (Epcot especially so!). They have their. Own inhabitants from all over the world. They develop their own culture. I have always loved studying world history and culture, and what better way than to go straight to the source!

I don’t even like roller coasters, but I spend a good chunk of my days off at various theme parks. I realized yesterday that most of the time, I don’t even care about any of the rides. I don’t have a set aganda for what I have to ride. I don’t have to get fast passes to avoid waiting in lines all day. Waiting in the queue is part of the theme park experience I feel, and sometimes its one of the best places to make new friends!

Most people go to Disney World for the Magic Kingdom. Or for thrill rides or to dine with Mickey and friends. I go for Epcot. Some people don’t even know how I could spend a whole day there, but I could spend a week and still not see or try everything. There’s of course the big name rides like Test Track, Mission Space, and Soarin’- thrill rides I can actually ride. And after every ride there’s little interactive play areas to play and learn new things- you could actually spend the whole day just doing these probably! Then there’s innoventions- the huge interactive arcade with all sorts of things to try. There’s the Land and the Living Seas with all sorts of things to see and do and learn about nature. And then there’s my favorite part- the world showcase. I could spend a whole day just here! There’s presentations and comedy shows in each country. Plenty of shopping if you have the cash to burn. For the kids and the kids are heart there’s a craft station in each country. There’s at least two restaurants in each place to eat around the world. There’s my favorite pasttime of drinking around the world. And my second favorite pasttime, finding cute foreign guys to flirt with.

I think I’d like to build a new theme park that is just like that part of Epcot. It would be a little bit smaller, but hopefully a little bit cheaper, and include even a larger variety of countries. And right in the center will be a hidden tower that I will live in. Yep, that sounds like a nice dream to hold on to!

Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.
My life has become one giant crazy random happenstance.